Prayer Warrior Marie Liddicoat

Prayer warrior Marie Liddicoat

When reading the citation for why Marie Liddicoat has been nominated for a Cross of St Piran award, you wonder what other awards she should be given as well. Yet, Marie is bemused about why she has been singled out. “I don’t really understand why I was nominated. I do what I do, not doing anything different. Someone asks me to do something and I do it!”

Marie is part of St Luke’s Boscoppa. She’s a member of the PCC, but it’s her work and love for the people of the challenging estate she lives on that sets her apart. Her hidden acts of kindness include picking up litter, planting flowers in strategic places, regularly baking for elderly neighbours, helping to put together and deliver craft packs to families during the pandemic and putting up motivational posters to encourage her neighbours about the love of God. More than all of that, she prays.

Putting on prayer warrior armour

Everyday Marie puts on her prayer warrior armour and walks through the estate, embedding and building up layers of prayer for her community. “Our estate is troubled, and I just want people to have what I have. There’s a comfort in my faith. Things haven’t always been easy in my life, but I’ve always been provided for.”

“I just want people to have what I have. There’s a comfort in my faith.”

For Marie, a relationship with God is as natural as breathing. She says hello when she wakes up and chats along with Him for rest of the day, “It’s just normal for me. I know other people might think that’s a bit much, but for me, it’s lovely.” And included in their daily chats together are the people in her neighbourhood.

“On our estate we have drug addicts, alcoholics, people who’ve been in prison and people who just break things because they are frustrated. If they had Jesus, they wouldn’t need to do any of that. They would be more content and have a life that is fulfilling. I do believe his yoke is easy. I do believe that he loves us unconditionally and that no matter what we’ve done he always loves us. That’s what I would like them to know. I just get the impression they think they’ve done so many bad things they can’t come back from it, but they can.”

Power in prayer walking

There is great power in prayer walking. As Marie says, it changes things. The lockdowns mean Marie is currently walking alone, but she loved it when she could walk with others and pray together in a group. “I’m hoping we can all get out again soon. Five of us met regularly and it felt really special and useful. You can really change things when you pray together.”

“You can really change things when you pray together.”

Marie has always felt that God has her back and that she’s never on her own. “He’s gently putting me where I need to be and helping me to live the best life possible. You always know when you’ve done something that maybe wasn’t the best thing you could have done, and you learn that it’s nicer to be a better person – not that I’m a saint or anything!”

Personal pain that helps Marie to see the pain of others

Talking with Marie, even on Zoom, she shines with her love for God. But life hasn’t always been sunny. Like many people, Marie has known great pain in her life. “We’ve all been to dark places and felt distant. It’s hard but it’s a choice to allow yourself back into the light again.” Marie lost her brother Christopher to suicide when he was 35. “There’s the constant fear of worrying if we missed something. I had to decide if it would define me and not move on or use the pain to try to see the pain of others and heal a little bit.”

It’s not glib to call Marie a prayer warrior. The Holy Spirit helps her to see the pain and struggles of others and moves her to pray, to plea and fight for them with every step she takes around her estate. “Life is hard, and it’s a struggle. But Jesus is always there, walking by our side and there is hope.”

“Life is hard, and it’s a struggle. But Jesus is always there, walking by our side and there is hope.”

St Piran would be proud of Marie Liddicoat. A pioneer himself, he would appreciate her fight to replace frustration, hurt and disillusionment with love and hope through prayer and the gentle placement of flowers on the estate.